


you can see it with the lights out

by amaltheaz



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Hopeful Ending, Pre-Relationship, but it's also kind of sad?, post-reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:35:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21775315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaltheaz/pseuds/amaltheaz
Summary: Prompt:Kara’s not affected by cold the way humans are and Lena has begun to take advantage of that fact. Kara’s warm skin is great for cold hands
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 39
Kudos: 332
Collections: Supergirl Femslash Secret Santa 2019





	you can see it with the lights out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MsSirEy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsSirEy/gifts).



> Happy holidays! This prompt took a much different turn than I expected but I hope it still won't disappoint! ❤️❤️❤️

Her eyes are nearly shut when Kara startles awake.

“Lena, what are you _doing_?” she asks, looking incredulously over her shoulder to see her best friend very inelegantly pressing her bare feet to her back. 

“It has come to my attention, my darling, that you don’t feel the cold as most humans do—”

“Yeah, but what does that have to do with why you're basically giving me a back massage right now?” she blurts out, her exhaustion taking away any sense of a filter. But who could blame her? She has had a long day at CatCo, still trying to rise up to the challenges that Andrea keeps giving her for whatever reason. Lena had offered for them to reschedule movie night but Kara had been adamant about wanting to spend time together and showing Lena her favorite Christmas movies. 

“I am _trying_ to do this so I can at least be in a comfortable position and as I was _saying_ —,” Lena gives her a pointed look, warning her to not interrupt, “you don't feel the cold as most humans do and so I feel that it behooves me, as your best friend in the entire multiverse—after Alex, of course—to cash in on those best friend benefits that I’ve obviously been missing out.”

Kara rolls her eyes, trying to not laugh at the way Lena’s concentrating on keeping her feet pressed up on her back but also kind of adoring it at the same time. “You know, you _can_ just come closer and then we can cuddle, and it won't be just your feet that gets warm.” She turns to face Lena; her change in position resulting in Lena’s feet pressing right on her stomach instead. 

The blush on Lena’s cheeks is faint but Kara still catches it anyway, initially confused as to what it was that she said that would have garnered that reaction. After all, it certainly won't be the first time that they've cuddled together so it's not exactly new for them. But it is the first time that they're here since Lena found out about Kara being Supergirl, since the long-drawn out process of trying to truly move forward from it together. 

All that remained of who they once were seemed to be nothing but mere dust and burnt ash. There were times when Kara thought that Lena would never, ever truly forgive her, that they would never, ever get back what they had before. And so it took her by surprise that Lena actually agreed to stay over when Kara suggested it once they both realized how late it had gotten. 

Still, she tries not to feel the sting of Lena’s hesitation. 

So Kara does what she does best. She takes a deep breath in the same way that Eliza taught her and puts on a brave smile. She reminds herself that this is Lena, somebody she cares about and wants nothing more than to make her feel like Kara is somebody she can feel safe with again. Reminds herself that despite how much she wishes she could just fast forward to where they're really okay again because _god_ , she really, really misses cuddling with Lena, she has to be patient, slow and careful. Recovery is a long and difficult road, after all, not a simple quick fix. 

“But um—it’s also okay if you don't want that? You are absolutely and totally welcome to keep your feet on my back if that's much more comfortable for you,” she starts to ramble when Lena doesn't look like she's about to say anything back and it seems like she's withdrawing. “It's just that—Alex cuddles into me too when she gets cold too, y’know? Sometimes she even calls me her personal space heater because heh, get it? Me? Space?” she pauses to laugh awkwardly, catching the stunned expression on Lena’s face before barreling on, “I’m just saying that I don’t—I don't mind if you're wanting to get warm, is all. Really, I—I’m used to it.”

She forces herself to stop, presses her lips together in a tight smile and valiantly ignoring the fierce blush she feels hot and present in her cheeks. Kara’s about to turn so she can lay on her other side, mildly upset with herself that she might have ruined what had been a perfectly light moment between them and thinking that maybe resuming her former position would be the best course of action. Kara is mid-motion when she feels Lena’s hand on her forearm and she meets those green eyes that she still knows so well. There’s apprehension and maybe still a little fear and Kara’s chest tightens at the sight of it all, at the fact that she can see all these things compared to those weeks when Lena so completely closed herself off to Kara. It also means that she doesn't miss the lowered defenses in Lena’s gaze, the softness that she has yearned to see for so long. 

It's a glimmer of hope 

\---

The times when Lena is rendered speechless is very few and far in between.

It shouldn't come as news to her though that a majority of those few times have been solely because of Kara. She’s the only person who has ever made Lena feel like she's constantly on her back foot, so unsure as to what step should be her next. Kara also happens to be the same person who has ever made Lena feel like she can do anything, can _be_ anything. 

The hand on hers is warm and solid as Kara looks at her with a question in her eyes, asking for an affirmation that this is okay. She bites down on her lip as she nods, letting out a breath when Kara’s hand pulls away. The next thing Lena knows is that the warmth that she has been seeking all night is moving closer towards her. The movement is smooth and steady but Lena finds herself suddenly panicking about what she's supposed to do with her hands. 

Lena tries to make herself remember that neither of them are any different. Kara is who she has always been just as Lena is who she has always been but while the energy that surrounds them is mostly the same, there's still something new, something heavier, _thicker_ , and she just can't figure out what it is. She can tell by the way that Kara has been acting around her lately, that she’s not alone in noticing it. 

Maybe she can wrap her arms around Kara's neck? Lena is completely aware of how completely ridiculous this is, how much extra thought she’s putting into this. It’s not something she has ever had to think about before. Her arms always seemed to know exactly where to go around Kara; they always knew exactly where to land. Hugs used to be _so_ easy. 

“Oh hey, whoa there.” 

She looks up, alarmed and confused when she sees Kara with her head reared back and her hand wrapped around her wrist. 

Kara is quick to reassure her. “It's okay. You're okay. You just—nearly punched me in the face there.” 

She notices then her clenched fists, how her fingernails are digging near painfully into her palms. Despite Kara’s light tone, Lena rushes to apologize. “Oh no, I’m so sor—,”

“Hey no, it's so not a problem,” Kara interrupts her with a casual shrug. “It wouldn't have hurt me or anything but it might not have ended so well for your fist.” She smiles ruefully as her thumb brushes delicate over Lena’s knuckles before letting out a deep sigh. Kara's smile is dim and shaky, twisting something hard in Lena’s chest. “It's still a little awkward, huh?”

“I'm sorry,” Lena whispers. 

Kara shakes her head. “Not yours to apologize for, Lena,” she softly replies as she lets go, giving Lena her hand back. She tries not to think too hard about how disappointed she is by that. 

“But it isn't yours either,” she insists. 

It took Lena a long time—far too long, she feels—to accept that though Lex attempted to manipulate her into thinking that her relationships with Kara and their friends were nothing but lies and deception, a deep part of her had already long thought that. It was a part of her she easily ignored, easily pushed away into the furthest corner of her mind until that very moment. That very moment she readily took what Lex said to her as gospel. 

And god, how frighteningly easy it had been to fall back on bad habits when she found out about Kara being Supergirl because just as a part of her had long been expecting some type of betrayal, another had equally hoped with a desperate edge to be proven wrong. The things she had done, the things she had _nearly_ done that would have then led to the things that she had nearly lost. It didn't seem like there was any coming back from that though Kara promises— _swears_ —that it's never too late to make things better. 

She’s still learning what it truly means to forgive. Kara, their friends, herself. 

It’s… a process. 

“We’ll figure it out.”

“You think so?” she asks, hating how small and unsure she sounds. 

“I know so.” Kara smiles slowly at her, a sure smile that bolsters her just a little bit and that’s more than Lena could ask for at this moment. “You mean so much to me, Lena, and I’ve—I’ve really missed you.”

She swallows thickly at Kara's quiet confession, thinking of how she could have lost _this_. “I've really missed you too.” 

“Okay.” Kara takes a deep, measured breath before letting it out. “Okay, how about this—I’m gonna just do this,” she watches as Kara lays on her back, opening her arms wide, “and then you just—come here and we can adjust until we're both comfortable?”

Lena lets out a sigh, charmed as always by Kara’s thoughtfulness. “I can work with that.” 

Kara is so still and unmoving as Lena comes closer to her that she catches the very second that Kara shivers and winces under her touch. Lena stops and looks up at her in question. Kara smiles sheepishly. “Sorry, your touch is too light. I’m kind of ticklish.” 

She arches an eyebrow, relieved at the same time that she hadn't done something wrong. “Oh, really?” she asks.

Her mischievous tone doesn't go amiss when blue eyes glare mildly at her. “I should warn you that trying to tickle a Kryptonian when she has her powers will not go so well for you.”

“That’s unfortunate,” she pouts. 

Kara sighs. “I give you full permission to take advantage of that when I solar flare, but only once because I really am ticklish.”

She doesn't know why it surprises her; Kara's willingness to let herself be vulnerable with her. It shouldn't, she understands that now and it makes her a little angry to think of how recklessly Kara leaves herself open to get hurt, including by Lena herself, with absolutely no regard for the consequences. Lena has learned too that it's a part of Kara that she loves in the same measure as she hates it. But it's an argument for another time. 

“Though I don't much like the thought of you solar-flaring, I’m going to hold you to that,” she tells Kara, giving her fair warning. Her heart flutters as Kara’s smile softens, her eyes bluer than anything Lena has ever seen. 

“I know you will,” Kara quietly replies. 

\---

As Kara closes her eyes to sleep, she hazily thinks of what she and Lena have now really isn't at all anything like what they had before and that it won't ever be again. 

She looks down when she feels Lena huff against her before nuzzling her nose into her neck. Kara plants a gentle kiss to Lena’s forehead, smiles as Lena’s face then softens at the touch of her lips. 

No, it most certainly won't ever be the same again but Kara thinks that maybe—maybe it will be something so much better. 

**the end**

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr @amaltheaz/@maybewritingthings
> 
> And on twitter @amaltheazwrites


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